Harvester guard-finger



L MILLER HARVESTER GUARD FINGER.

(No Model.)

No. 601,447. Patented Mar. 29,1898.

772352 e 556 0*, (5 K)? $11M UNITED STATES PATENT l EEICE.

LEWISMILLER, OF AKRON, OHIO.

HARVESTER GUARD-FINGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 601,447, dated March 29, 1898. Application 51 a January 22, 1895. $erial No. 535,773. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEwIs MILLER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Akron, county of Summit, and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Harvester Guard-Fingers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to the knife and guards or fingers of ordinary mowers and reapers; and it consists in constructing a guard having its cap over the knife formed with beveled edges, providing a flat bearing over the top of the knife to prevent the rising of the knife and the liability of its cutting edge coming in contact with the outer edge of the guard-cap. The lower central or fiat portion of the cap, being in near contact with the upper raised central surface of the knife, will at all times hold its cutting edge down upon the ledger-plate as it moves back and forth through the guard-slot under the cap.

It is well known that during cutting in ordinary fieldwork obstructions are liable to clog the action of the knife and cause it to spring upwardly or twist and its cutting edge will be forced upwardly and come in contact with the outer edge of the guard-cap, and thereby injure and often break the knife edge. My invention obviates this difficulty, which is accomplished by making a parallel bevel on the under side of the guard-cap at its inner edge, which line of bevel shall coincide ,with the bevel and angular line formed from the heel to the toe of the knife edge, and the raised central portion of the knife or section as it enters the guard-slot will depress the edge of the knife and prevent its rising as it enters the guard-slot.

I have also shown a knife with a raised central portion on a plane above the cutting-face of the knife, which has a broad bearing upon the ledger-plate and is concave in the central portion of the knife, which does not touch the guard.

In the drawings, Figure l is a View in perspective of the knife-guard and knife. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of same. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a sectional view of same on line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

A designates the guard; A, the guard-cap A, the fiat central part of the guard.

B represents the knife; 0, the raised central portion of the knife; D, the rounded edge of the guard-cap; D, the ledger-plate.

In operation the reciprocating knife-bar, to which the knives are attached, is held to its place by angle guides or clips secured at intervals to the finger-bar in any well-known manner, and the knife is caused to move back and forth in the guard-slot, its broad cuttingsurface, that forms the subject of another application, Serial No. 535,774, filed January 23, 1895, rests upon the ledger-plate of the guard and this causes very little friction or wear to the knife or ledger-plate, while the flat central portion of the guard-cap above the knife will, in cases when the knife has a tendency to rise or twist during the cutting of tough fine fibrous grass, prevent the rising of the knife in the guard-slot as the flat under surface of the cap bears down upon the higher or raised portion of the knife, and the beveled outer corner of the cap serves to guide the knife thereunder and there is no liability of the correspondingly-beveled cutting edge of the knife being forced upward or twisted out of a direct line of travel in its reciprocation, so as to cause contact with the upper guard-cap, and it readily cuts through all fibrous substances and does not clog, making it light draft on the team and saving the time required to clear obstructions from the cutterbar or replace injured knives.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a knife having an upper convex surface and a beveled edge, of a guard -cap having edges correspondingly beveled as and for the purposes shown and described.

2. The guard-cap A provided with the flat bearing A and the outer beveled edges D D combined with the knife having correspond- 9 ingly-beveled edges and a raised central portion 0 for guiding the knife so that its lower cutting-surface may not rise in contact with the guard-cap substantially as shown and for the purposes described.

3. The knife B having a raised central pertravel through the guard-slot substantially as tion 0 and beveled edges combined with the shown and for the purposes described. guard-cap A having edges correspondingly beveled "to obviate contact with the cutting LEWIS MILLER 5 edge of the knife as it twists when cutting hard In .presence ofgrass-stalks and clogging substances and pre- 0. L. SADLER, Vent it from rising from its normal line of WALTER K. MEANS. 

